Grethell Rasua

Grethell Rasua

From Waste to Adornment. The Beauty in You, 2024
Silkscreen, handmade decorations with gold leaf and treated human excrement on wallpaper, mirror (13" x 18"), drawings (10"x12", 11" x 6"), and linocut (2" x 4"; 6" x 6")
144" x 50"
Courtesy of the artist

Grethell Rasua is an interdisciplinary visual artist, educator, and curator from Cuba. She earned a Diploma from the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Art (2004) and a BFA from the University of the Arts—ISA (2009). She studied performance at Tania Bruguera’s Behavior Art School (2007) and humanities at the Piarist Schools of Cuba at the University of Veracruz (2009). Her work has been exhibited at major events like the Venice Biennale, Havana Biennials, and institutions such as the Sao Paulo Art Museum and the Ludwig Forum for International Art. She has participated in prestigious residencies, including the Cuban Artists Fund NYC, KulturKontakt, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

My art practice is defined by three main activities: Transforming, Embellishing, and Serving. I transform the repulsive into something beautiful, functional, and valuable. I create works that explore the perception of beauty through personal experiences, engaging both the physical and emotional body, individually and within a community. My practice is based on creating unique objects and jewelry through personalized service, performance, installation, video, photography, and drawing. I combine bodily waste like excrement, semen, and tears with other materials such as gold, silver, and resin to create pieces that are functional, reliable, and enduring.

I invite viewers to question their concepts of beauty to know themselves better as individuals and members of communities. I illuminate how what can be construed as unacceptable and taboo can become a means to connect to others and expand how we perceive beauty and reality. In my creative process and every piece I create, I embrace the act of beautifying and honoring beauty in its deepest form.